292 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.55. 



Length about 9 cm. Maximum width, slightly above the middle, 

 2.2 cm. Margins entire. Texture subcoriaceous. Petiole missing. 

 Midrib stout, curved, prominent. Secondaries stout, but not promi- 

 nent; about six opposite to alternate, irregularly and mostly widely 

 sjjaced camptodrome pairs. Tertiaries mostly obsolete. 



This species is based upon a small amount of material of a laura- 

 ceous leaf, apparently referable to Mespilodaphne and much like the 

 leaves of a number of existing species in this genus — as, for example, 

 the Brazilian species Mespilodaphne. brasiliensh and M. glauca. 

 These are much like the fossil, the first being relativelj'^ narrower 

 and the second slightly wider. There are a considerable number of 

 fossil forms that are of this type — as, for example, Mespilodaphne 

 psexidoglauca Berry and M. coushatta Berry from the lower Eocene 

 of southeastern North America, although such comparisons are of 

 but slight value beyond corroborating the generic identity. 



The present species is extremely close to, if not identical with, a 

 form from the Navidad beds of Chile described by Engelhardt^ as 

 Hoffmannia protogaea. This genus of the Rubiaceae has about a 

 score of existing species of herbs and shrubs that are chiefly Central 

 American in range. Although there are minor differences in vena- 

 tion between this Engelhardt species and the present one from Peru, 

 I am inclined to consider the two as identical, particularly as vari- 

 ants described from Chile under other names serve to render this com- 

 parison still more probable. 



The existing species of Mespilodaphne^ often included with Oreo- 

 daphne and Stryehnodaphne in the composite genus Ocotea^ are con- 

 fined to Africa and tropical South America, attaining their maximum 

 development in northern South America. 



Holotype.—C^L No. 35334, U.S.N.M. 



Genus PERSEA Gaertner. 



PERSEA MACROPHYLLOIDES Engelhardt (?) 



Persea macropMjlloides Engelhardt, Abh. Senck. Naturf. Gesel., vol. 16, 

 p. 650, pi. 5, fig. 3, 1S91; vol. 19, p. 27, pi. .5, fig. 3, 1895. 



Material from near Tumbez, too poor for figuring, strongly sug- 

 gests this species which Engelhardt has recorded from both the 

 Navidad beds of Chile and from Santa x\na in Colombia. It appears 

 to be correctly referred to Persea and is especially interesting in its 

 bearing on the correlation of these remote Tertiary outcrops. 



1 Engelhardt, H., Abh. Senck. Naturf. GeselL, vol. 16, p. 657, pi. 5, fig. 1, 1891. 



